Like most racers, Funny Car driver Cruz Pedregon, a two-time Mello Yello champion, is mainly concerned about making his car go faster.

But Pedregon, on the brink of his 500th round win in the NHRA's premier series, is proud of what that milestone means.

With one round win in the Kansas Nationals eliminations, Pedregon will become the 14th driver in NHRA history to reach 500, and the ninth in the nitro classes (Funny Car and Top Fuel).

“I heard about it a few weeks back and I thought, ‘Oh, that's pretty cool,’” said Pedregon, who drives the Snap-on Tools Toyota Camry entry. “But I heard an athlete, it may have been a football player, say the other day that milestones are more for after you retire, and you can look back and look at numbers.

“The only numbers I'm looking at are compression ratios and trying to figure out how to make our car go faster, but I think it's great. When I was wanting to be a professional drag racer I remember thinking, ‘Man, it would be nice if I could not only get there, but figure out a way to stay in the sport for a while.’ It's exceeded that even.”

Pedregon, who won titles in 1992 and 2008, made his pro debut way back in ’91 and is proud to still be in the game, finishing top four in Funny Car points the past three seasons.

“I've managed to talk my way into a few situations, and it's worked out,” he said. “I'm proud of it. I know it's been a lot of different race teams and three different owners, including myself.”

Pedregon, who is fourth on the all-time Funny Car win list (34), drove for Larry Minor and famed NFL coach/racing owner Joe Gibbs before forming his own team.

“I think my most proud time is now because I've been able to learn from great owners and people and to put that together and have my own team and have this level of success,” Pedregon said. “It's been a great run.”

Pedregon has struggled so far this season and is currently out of the top 10 in the Funny Car standings, but he sees better days coming.

“Absolutely I see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Pedregon said. “We've managed to finish in the top five three straight years, and every year had its challenges. Even last year we were staring down the barrel of some situations or issues and we overcame them.

“This year we're not having things fall our way like they could or will eventually, so I can't imagine this continuing for very much longer. I think we're going to get back.”